Expect Microsoft Windows to Nosedive in China, Just Like in India
Huawei is breaking up with Microsoft
Windows has been perishing in India for a number of years, but is China next? The two countries combined are about 3 billion people in a world with about 8.2 billion. Two months ago we published "OpenHarmony, HarmonyOS Next, Deepin, Kylin, and openKylin: How China's Various Manoeuvres Away From Windows Get Covered in the West" (the facts have not changed since).
Now there's this new report from Simon Sharwood, who has entitled it "Huawei to dump Windows for PCs in favor of its own HarmonyOS" and it says:
Huawei's current PCs are the last it will make that run Windows, and future machines will run its own HarmonyOS instead, according to the chair of the Chinese giant's consumer business group, Yu Chengdong.Yu's remarks were made in a Friday interview, in which he also talked up HarmonyOS Next – the version of the OS that is all Huawei's work, has an entirely new kernel apparently built without Linux, and won't run Android apps. Huawei promotes the OS as offering superior performance and security.
If Huawei is indeed ditching Windows it won't be a massive blow to Microsoft. Analyst firm Canalys believes the Chinese box builder holds around ten percent of the 40-million-units-a-year Middle Kingdom PC market.
Lenovo dominates the country's PC market with 38 percent share, ahead of HP's ten percent. It's in neither of their interests to adopt Huawei's OS – but that could change if patriotic sentiment, or Beijing’s increasing preference for home-grown tech, reshapes the local environment.
For now, however, HarmonyOS reportedly lacks support from significant software vendors – especially game developers.
Also see "Huawei's HarmonyOS puts China's tech world in awkward spot", which says:
Huawei's unveiling of its HarmonyOS Next operating system in June marked a pivotal moment for the Chinese tech giant. Seen by many as a "declaration of independence" from Google's Android, Huawei's latest OS version is central to the company's ambition to establish a homegrown ecosystem for smart devices.Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, called on Chinese internet and technology companies to align with this vision, encouraging them to join the Harmony ecosystem. The response has been significant, with more than 5,000 companies reportedly signing up with Harmony, and 1,500 apps already available for download from its app store. Yet, despite these impressive numbers, cracks are beginning to show in the bold plan.
In IRC we've been discussing what might be inside HarmonyOS. It has long been somewhat of a mystery and online research indicates there are many Free software "components" in it.
HarmonyOS, OpenHarmony, HarmonyOS Next... they keep shuffling the labels. Whatever that thing is, it's clearly not Windows. And that's a problem for Microsoft. █